USNing this for now as although it goes towards some of the stuff Sony is going through (although that it all went down after various filing dates might raise an eyebrow) and will probably, especially in light of the vita difficulties, increase speculation on the chance of a PSP phone (as well as integration between all their platforms) I do not reckon it warrants a full portal post.
Edit: Just to clarify- this is not new news but news that the whole situation has been finalised with papers being signed and such.

History lesson- occasionally companies might be bought out (and either folded in or kept as a separate company) or they might merge (in name and nature) into a new company or they might do a joint venture. Sony and telecoms company Ericsson did a joint venture back in 2001 or so to make mobile phones and for a while did quite well but the last few years were not good.

Statement from Sony

Sony will rename Sony Ericsson “Sony Mobile Communications”, and further integrate the mobile phone business as a vital element of its electronics business, with the aim of accelerating convergence between Sony’s lineup of network enabled consumer electronics products, including smart phones, tablets, TVs and PCs.

Click to expand...

Ericsson meanwhile gets a large pile of cash to the tune of "7.5 billion Swedish krona ($1.1bn, £707m)" according to the register article and the ability to cross license some of the tech- it was a buyout but I am not sure of the nature of the deal and/or background (Ericsson did have a bit of a debt issue).

Thoughts- as the world slowly forgets this I wonder how Casino Royale will look in a couple of decades.

I love Sony Ericsson phones. They really pack a lot of hardware into it. I mean, the phone I got, an Xperia Arc is thinner than the iPhone, fast as hell, has android (thank god), and already sported a 8.1 720p camera. It's insane. And it was really cheap.

Xperia S seems to use internal storage, but Ion uses micro SD. I don't really use much Sony products, but I've always been loyal to Sony Ericsson. Hopefully the quality will still be kept from here on.